South Korean President Lee Myung-bak plans to visit China's earthquake-devastated Sichuan Province Friday to deliver his condolences to the Chinese people, Lee's spokesman announced Thursday.
``President Lee will fly to Sichuan Province Friday to visit scenes of earthquake destruction after completing his planned itineraries in Qingdao,'' spokesman Lee Dong-kwan was quoted as saying by Yonhap.
During his visit, President Lee will deliver his condolences to the Chinese people who have been in distress since the unprecedented natural disaster. He is expected to express the South Korean government's willingness to help China's recovery efforts.
Lee arrived in China Tuesday for a four-day state visit and held talks with President Hu Jintao, Prime Minister Wen Jiabao and other Chinese leaders, agreeing to upgrade bilateral relations to a strategic cooperative partnership. Lee will return home Friday after a one-night stopover in Qingdao, a port in northeastern China where many South Korea-invested firms are concentrated.
Lee will become the first foreign head of state to visit the earthquake-hit Sichuan Province.
The magnitude 7.9 quake, which rocked southwestern China on May 12, claimed nearly 70,000 lives with additional 19,851 people still missing. The earthquake left more than 5 million people homeless.